In “secular” India, 1,747 tribal Christians were recently re-converted to Hinduism. As reported in the Times of India, “The camp to reconvert tribals, who had embraced Christianity was held in the city for the first time and nearly 5,000 people from Maharashtra and Gujarat participated in the ceremony.”

Events like these are unique to modern India where many in the vast Hindu majority (80 percent of the population) cannot digest the fact that people want to convert to other religions (despite the professed secularism of the country’s constitution).

Sometimes I wonder how people of other religions have managed to survive in India. Burning of Christian churches was a matter of routine until recently in Orissa, while Muslims of course are killed for the sheer pleasure it gives the Hindu fundamentalists. Bal Thackeray, the politician who has a stranglehold on Mumbai, is known for his terrible hatred of Muslims. He has threatened to attack Pakistani cricketers and to disrupt matches if they are allowed to play in matches held in Mumbai. And of course, the Supreme Court of India cannot do anything to him despite his threats to disturb peace. And neither can the “independent” Election Commission of India prevent him and others like him from standing in elections.